I sat in my hotel room as the warm glow of victory, or something, washed over me. I had just vanquished my foe in the longest running Facebag comment war ever. He had ignominiously ceded the field with the cowardly claim that I was a stalker, a harasser, and that he had therefore reported me to the “proper authorities.”

I couldn’t help laughing at his silly subterfuge as I savored my victory. Sure, it had lopped 27 hours off my family vacation. Sure, my wife was livid. “How come you onna Facebag alla time?”

Sure, my son who we had come to visit was disappointed that every few seconds I would blurt out “You cocksucker! Take this!” And then furiously pound the iPhone’s keyboard, cursing and spitting and rending my breast.

Sure, we got kicked out of a couple of restaurants. And three bars. And a coffee shop. But at the end of the paddle battle, only one Tweetle Beetle was the winner. Me.

The congratulatory messages poured in. “You are the best Tweetle Beetle ever.”

“You own Facebag.”

“That was such an epic paddle battle.”

“Are you off your meds?”

“We are very worried about you.”

Etc.

In other words, I was really happy, until I heard the knock on my hotel door.

Without waiting for an answer, they pushed by me. “What’s going on? What are you talking about?”

“You’ve been reported by a user for violating the terms of service I just cited.”

“Who’s ever read those? What did I do?”

“Don’t play stupid. You broke the rule against being mean to cyclocross race promoters from Schenectady.”

“This is a joke, right? I had no idea he was from Schenectady. I made that up!”

The nicer of the two cops sat me on the edge of the bed. “Look, we’ve read the entire thread. Just confess and we’ll put in a good word on your behalf to Mr. Zuckerberg.”

“But I didn’t do anything! He said I was a crashtacular fred and that I should take his skills classes. I called him a newt and a salamander. What’s the big deal? These little Tweetle Beetle paddle-battles happen all the time. It’s Facebag, for fugg’s sake.”

They both shouted in unison: “It was a Tweetle Beetle paddle-battle in a muddle in a bottle!”

The room became still as death. “Oh,” I said meekly.

“See?” said the bad cop. “Shit got real enough for ya now?”

The good cop put his arm around my shoulder as I softly sobbed. “It’s okay. Just sign this confession. We’ll both tell Mark you cooperated.”

“But all I did was go over his race resume on Cycling USA and point out what a wanker he was.”

“I know,” said the good cop as he dabbed at my tears.

“And I just said that for a coach he seemed kind of thin on credentials.”

“It’s okay, pal. Sign here.”

“And he called me a fucktard and said I was whacko and called Mrs. WM a ‘mail-order bride.'”

The bad cop was reviewing the comments. “Quit trying to make yourself out as harmless. Says right here you made fun of his second place finish in a road race.”

“There were only six entries!”

“And over here you made fun of all his DNF’s.”

“But he’s a ‘cross expert. Shouldn’t he at least be able to finish?”

The nice cop looked up. “This wouldn’t have been so bad if you hadn’t involved Dr. Knoll.”

“Dr. Knoll?” asked the bad guy. “The stinky foot doctor?”

“That’s Dr. Scholl. Dr. Knoll is the shrink for cyclists. He only gets involved when it’s serious. Or when someone pays. Or when he’s really bored.”

“Look, pal,” said the bad cop. “You signing or not? We ain’t got all day.”

I sighed and took the pen. It was a short confession: “I, Wanky, do hereby admit to having made fun of a cyclocross promoter from Schenectady such that it became a Tweetle Beetle paddle-battle in a muddle in a bottle. I henceforth promise to never do this again. A second violation will result in revocation of my Facebag license and loss of all paddle-battle bottle muddle KOM’s on Strava.”

I signed, and they left. After a few minutes I checked Facebag. “Wankmeister is a douchey crashtacular fred who needs to take my skills class,” read the item in the newsfeed. The writer was a cyclocross promoter in Scranton. My pulse quickening, I opened up and began reading the terms of service.